


Christmas in the Lab

by olivemartini



Category: Bones
Genre: F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Season 1, alternating povs, idk - Freeform, slight AU, that christmas episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-18
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:50:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3767080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/olivemartini/pseuds/olivemartini
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Emily Simmons (original female character) goes to the lab to meet Jack so she could drive him back to their Michigan hometown, she finds herself trapped there over Christmas, thanks to a hazardous chemical a skeleton released.  Now, with faced with no escape from the feelings she had been fighting for Zack for years, she finds herself wondering if what she thought was unrequited could possibly be returned.  (more interesting than it sounds)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The agreement:   
She was to pick Zack Addy up from the Jeffersonian, and they would ride back to their Michigan hometown and face their respective relatives with brave faces, just like every year. Then, being best friends since the first grade, they would seek each others company at random intervals through out the stay, just to seek out someone who understood why they lvoed their new lives (although Zack's was infintely more interesting than hers). Often, they were forced to make polite small talk with someone that made them relive painfully traumatic childhood memories while the other would stand beside them, the solid wall of support, and both of them wuld pretend that they had no idea of the importance of the person that was talking to them. But, like every year, they would throw themselves into the car, and as the miles stretched out behind them, the stress would melt away, and it would just be them, heading back to their much better, more comforting lives, where they were free to be themselves, with the company of each other. At least, that was how Emily saw it.

What Actually Happened:  
She had been waiting out in the parking ot for thrity minutes, calling Zack and only getting voicemail, before she finally made the long trek up to the JEffersonian, and having to talk to at least thirty strangers before she was directed to the lab. (Zack had Hell to pay for that, meeting new people was qwuite intimidating when there was no familiar face to rescue her.) When she finally made it there, she was just in time to come face to fadce with a real, very much (but not all the way) decomposed skeleton. Which, as horrifying as the was, she had stayed in the lab to wait for Zack to be done cutting through a bone. Which, really, was her first mistake.

 

They were a curious bunch, Zack and his co-workers. Hodgins, the super hot slime guy. Dr. Brenann, who was a genuis and scared Emily more than she wanted to admit. Booth, who as far as she could tell tolerated Zack at best, though he was naive enough to think that it was some sort of male bonding ritual. Dr. Goodman, who Zack was scared by, had a way of calming the room that very few people seemed able to posess. Angela, with the pretty face and amazing smile, the only one who seemed unable to seperate feelings from work, and teased Emily about her relationship with Zack (which was nonexistent, despite what she might want).  
They all knew her. She had been in their offices and labs before, though admittedly, there was never any dead body parts lying around. That was why, when Hogdins waved hello, she just walked up the steps towards Zach- and immediatly wished she hadn't. "Oh God." She staggered back a little, surprised at the sight in front of her. A skeleton, a real life one, laying out on the table, with his clothes hanging from what was left of his body, partially intact, rotting, leathery looking skin hanging off of brown, blackened bone. If she squinted, she could see bugs crawling all over him. "That's-Oh my God."   
"Emily." Zack was there in a heart beat. "Don't look at that. How did you get up here? The security is the highest level, it's a confidential building." He took her by the arm and led her a few steps away before she had pulled herself together enough to shake him off.   
"I'm fine, Zack. Just took me by surprise." Her breath was a little shaky, even as she eyed the skelton a few feet from her.  
"I don't see why, seeing as you know what we do here. The anthropolgy department and all." Emily was sure he didn't intend to be insensitive, but she still was in shock. Remembering that not everyone was used to seeing rotting bodies all day, his tone seemed to soften. "I am sorry you had to see that. Normal people are senstive to this stuff. This is why I never have you meet me at work." He seemed ashmaed of it, even though she had gotten detail sof his work before.  
"We were leaving about forty minutes ago, remember? And you are normal, Zack." She squeezed his arm before brushing past him, approaching the table, but mindful of the hands off warning she had gotten famliar to hearing. "So, what happened to him?"  
"That's what we're trying to find out." Brenan didn't even look up from the body she was examining. "Hodgins, will you collect the larvae and maggot samples?" Noticing the look on Emily's face, Brenan smiled. "Squeamish?"  
"Emily is a very empathetic person. She feels the pain of others very deeply, even if she's never met them." Zack looked started at the six pairs of eyes suddenly on him, and he shrugged. "It's easy to observe, if you pay attention."  
Angela laid a hand on her arm. "You can wait up there, sweetie. Zack will be out of here in a few hours."

 

Of course, Emily was only alone for afew minutes befreo Angela was up there with her. "So. Did you hear about Naomi?"  
"I'm his best friend. Of course I did." Even to her own ears, she sounded a little bitter. "Every single detail. And about the month after when he was so hung up on her that he called her every day, and I didn't have the heart to tell him why she didn't call back."   
"Sorry." Agnela squeezed her hand symapthetically. "It must hurt."  
"She wasn't even pretty." That was the line Emily had been repeating to herself the whole fiasco. "I mean, what's wrong with methat he won't even look at me? I'm willing to throw myself at him, which not many girls are willing to do, despite the fact that he's actually good looking. But IU'm just his dorky, nerdy best friend from home."  
"Sweetie, whatever the issue is, it's not that you're too nerdy. Have you heard the boy's IQ? He loves anyone that even comes close to his level. Nerdy is good for him." Angela obviously dismissed the worry. but Emily could only shake her head.  
"There's a difference between smart and nerdy." The conversation might have continued, but an alarm started wailing.  
"Zach.. we were so close to leaving." Emily watched helplessly as any shred of hope they were going to make it home on time disppeared.   
"Why do you assume it was Zack?"  
"Because. Every single unplanned, annoying thing that happened in my life, its because of Zack." And sure enough, Zack and Hodgins came running up to them -in towels, not clothes- explainging that while it was, technically, Hodgins fault,, it was Zack who released the dangerous fungi spores.


	2. Explanations and Apologies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Facing the fact that she isn't going to be able to go home for Christmas, she seeks comfort with the only home she has at the lab- Zach.

Today was quickly climbing to the top of his SITUATIONS I FEEL INCREDIBLY HORRIBLE ABOUT list. It was bad enough that he had made Emily wait so long that she was surely going to be driving straight through the night to make it home on time, and now he very well could have infected her with some sort of fatal, horribly painful disease just because he didn't make sure Hodgins was wearing his mask.   
Not to mention the fact that he was around Emily in only a towel, which hadn't happened since he was five (although he had been fortunate enough to see her in just a towel last month). Add in the fact that Hodgins was in a towel beside him, well, it was the worst thing to happen yet (besides the hazardous mold spores/chemical conundrum).   
The thing was, he knew he wasn't what most women would call "attractive." He knew he was kind of weak, and pale, and a nerd by any neandrathal's not-so-humble opinion. But to have Emily look at Hodgins (checking him out, like he's an appetizing piece of meat, and you known what that means, it means she wants to have sex with him, just like all the other women). She wasn't bashful about it either, just looking slightly surprised and vert much pleased at the quality of his chest. On the other hand, Emily didn't even glance at him more than a quick look, and even that glimpse made her blush. She was now steadfastedly alternating her gaze between the computer screens and the other people in the room, like he was so repulisve she couldnt even stand another second. Because he was pale and weak and completely inadequate compared to the man she wanted.   
He didn't understand that. He had asked Angela, and she had said that if someone liked you, you instantly became ten times more attractive. So he thought, even if Emily didn't like him romantically, she might see him as attractive just on the basis f the logic your friends are attractive because you see the good things about their personality, not just the awfulness of the face. (Though his face is suffieciently appealing, he's been told, it's just the rest of his body tends to ruin the appeal. And his mannerism.)  
He didn't think anything could make this worse, until the real meaning of this seemed to hit Emily. "So we're not going to go home for Christmas? At all?" 

 

Several shots and medication doses later, they were all ordered to go to the decontamination showers and get clean, and a change of clothes (which everyone but Emily had stashed around the lab), just to decrease the change of catching the Valley Fever. He was still worried about the whole his body vs. Hodgins thing when Emily knocked on the door to his office. "My mom's going to kill you, you know."  
"Did you tell her?" He was cringing inside. Her mother was a rather large, scary woman that always was weilding a frying pan (or wooden spoon, if you were lucky) that she wouldn't hesitate to use even if he was a full grown adult.   
"I told her. She's upset, but hey, iit's another year before seeing my sister." She rolled her eyes. "So, I'm supposed to change clothes, but..." She shrugged helplessly.   
"Um, yeah. I've got another shirt and a pair of boxers?" He dug around in the drawer until he found it, handing them to her uncertainly. "Waters gonna be cold in there." He gestured towards the decontamination shower, and he could feel his ears turning pink. "I'll stand gaurd out there, make sure Hodgins or Botth doesn't accidenly on purpose sneak a peak. Okay?"  
"Okay." She bit her lip uncertainly. "Don't leave, okay? I know it's stupid and yiou'll call it irrational, that you can't protect me from invisible mold spores, but..."  
"I'm not leaving." He rolled his eyes and went to the door of his office, turning back only when she approached him, looking slighly self concious of her dripping hair and new attire. His shirt was much to tight around her chest but the sleeves still somehow managed to cover all but the tips of her fingers. It was cute.   
"So. What now?" She looked nervous. "I'm not going anywhere near Mr. Skeleton down there, am I?"  
"No. Listen, Emily, I am really sorry." He could feel himself getting nervous, could tell his speech was picking up speed, but the words rushed out. "I'm sorry I keep bothering with you driving me every time we go home, and that I'm too freaked over driving to get a license. I'm sorry that I kept you waiting for so long you had to search through the building to find me, which could not have been fun for you, and then you had to see some rotting skeleton a day before Christmas. I'm sorry I released a mold spore with the potential ability to kill you. I- I'm sorry that you had to take a freezing cold shower in a decontamination unit, and that you're missing Chrismtas, and that you have to sleep in a huge, giant building, which I'm sure can't be ffun for you."   
"Zack." She sat on the ground bside him. "What's with this? I admit, the shower was a bit of a bummer, and it's not a traditional Christmas, and the building freaks me out, but so what? My favorite part of Christmas has always been being with you, it always ahs been, since we were little, so it's not like that'll change. And as far as sleeping in the building, I'm going to be like your shadow this whole tiume. Sleeping bags beside each other and everything." She leaned her head on Zack's shoulder, and he stiffened, still not used to the way she casually touches him like its so easy for her. "What's with this sudden shyness about your job, anyways? You've told m what you do at work before, no matter how grossed out I pretend to get."  
"It's a different. Its one thing to like, read about someone being shot through the head, but witnessing it is highly traumatic." He was biting his finger nails again, something he hadn't done in a while, and wondered if she could tell how nervous this conversation was making him.   
"Those are entirely different, Zack." Her hadn was on his arm, and he tried not to stare at it. "What you're doing makes you a hero. You help put away the bad guys, fight crime, save innocent people. That's good, Zack. If anyone tells you different, they're idiots."  
"Angela had a guy here one, Tony, who saw what we were doing and said we were all freaks." He swallowed hard. "I guess I was worried that if you saw this, you'd realize how weird I really was."  
"Oh, Zack." It took him a moment to realize she was hugging him, asnd that it was okay for him to hug abck. "I've known for a while exactly how weird you are. And just cuase that guy was a bastard, doesn't mean I am." She stood up, holding out a hand, clearly confident he would accept. "Let's go find a hang out place. I want to sleep." It took him a moment to realize that five steps later, she hadn't let go of his hand.


End file.
